With the addition of a few classic soft rock selections the artist found absorbing early on, tonight features Ann Hampton Callaway’s songwriting skill. Yes, she writes songs. Good ones. This is a positive, even joyful show; heartfelt, proud, grounded, and accessibly sophisticated.
Finding Beauty (the title of her new CD) is syncopated and upbeat: Someone new is looking through my lashes…a phoenix rising from the ashes… the performer sings, scatting with palpable pleasure. It was Anne Frank, Callaway tells us, who taught her, at nine, to look for beauty. Carole King’s “I Feel the Earth Move” follows. Heads bob, feet tap. Step, touch, step, touch, she bounces and claps. Tapestry (King’s breakthrough album) made me want to be a songwriter.”
Ann Hampton Callaway
“I had a huge crush on James Taylor… We never met… I’m a little bitter…He wrote this first song on his life’s philosophy. I wrote the second on mine.” “Secret O’ Life” is almost literally light. Isn’t it a lovely ride? slopes like a water slide. A lovely arrangement. “You Can’t Rush Spring” is the kind of standard that iconic vocalists might’ve recorded in the fifties. It’s taken me my whole life to learn/You can’t rush spring… Sigh.
“Forever and A Day” was created as an anniversary gift from Callaway’s sister Liz to her husband Dan Foster. “And I love Kari (Ann’s wife)…The result is a jewel of a song about finding the love of your life,” Callaway says, gazing across a sea of faces at her inamorata. (Written with Alan Bergman.) On its tail, “Stealin’ Away” arrives jazz noir Stealin’ away/There’s not a place we need to be/Stealin’ away… As on many songs, Billy Stritch deftly adds vocal back-up. (Written with Dan Levine.)
Billy Stritch, Ann Hampton Callaway
“The Moon is A Kite”…I fly from my heart… takes darting, swooping flight; playing tag with a breeze. Piano whirls and dips, vocal slides and rises. Evoked sky may be Maxfield Parish, but the kite is definitely Callaway’s. Based on a Reader’s Digest story, “Information Please,” is the tender tale of a child who develops a wonderfully supportive relationship with a phone operator he never meets. Vocal is delicate, phrasing – perfect. Hey, hey, I heard her say/Things will all turn out ok…(written with Amanda McBroom). “Hannah Waddingham says, tears are the orgasm of the soul,” the artist quotes. Ann’s sister, Liz Callaway, duets on “You’ve Got a Friend.” Temperature in the room rises with sibling affection. We all sing the chorus as if around a campfire.
Ann Hampton Callaway, Liz Callaway
“John Lennon actually wrote a template for peace. Years later, I wrote my response.” “Imagine” emerges mellifluous, rather like a prayer, with soft drum taps and cottony piano chords. “At the Same Time” joins hands with Lennon’s lyric wishes: Think of all the hearts/ Beating in the world/At the Same Time/Think of all the faces/Telling stories of their lives/At the Same time… Eloquent and lovely. Dignity and purpose shine through Ann Hampton Callaway’s talent.
Photos by Alix Cohen
Ann Hampton Callaway: Finding Beauty-Inspired Classics and Originals
Special Guest – Liz Callaway
MD/Piano – Billy Stritch
Martin Wind-Bass; Tim Horner- Drums
THROUGH SATURDAY AUGUST 24, 2024
Ann and Liz Callaway will be back at 54/Below Thanksgiving week.
54/Below
254 West 54th Street
